Council deals in spotlight

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Bribes, brown paper bags and offshore bank accounts are set to
feature when the ICAC opens its public hearings into the
machinations of Strathfield Council today.

The central focus of the inquiry will be a video, understood to
have been recorded last August, featuring then mayor Alfred Tsang
accepting a wad of $100 notes from property developer Michael
Saklaoui, who filmed the exchange.

Apart from handing over the cash, the video records Mr Saklaoui
asking whether the mayor would like a $200,000 sum paid here or
overseas.

Mr Saklaoui is no stranger to unorthodox business practices. In
a 1988 Federal Court case, Justice Ian Sheppard heard evidence that
Mr Saklaoui, who owned four BP petrol stations at the time,
terrified BP executives by whipping out a gun when negotiating
petrol prices.

Mr Saklaoui was not charged over the matter.

At the heart of the commission's inquiry are allegations that
certain property developers received inside information on areas
about to be rezoned by Strathfield Council.

However, their schemes allegedly went awry when the Labor Party
lost control of the council in the elections last March and the
planned rezonings were stopped.

Cr Tsang, as the new mayor, ordered an inquiry into the
rezonings. "It's these sort of coincidences that give the council a
very bad name," he said of the developers who appeared to have had
the foresight to snap up soon-to-be-rezoned areas.

"God has given me a second chance to put this council right." he
told the Herald last year.

Among the developments being examined by the commission is the
Spanish Inn on Liverpool Road, Strathfield, which was to set to be
rezoned to allow a 12-storey development. The buyers, Anne and
Eddie Bechara, had business links with the then Labor mayor John
Abi-Saab, who presided over the council at the time the rezonings
were discussed.

Cr Abi-Saab has denied leaking confidential council plans to
fellow members of the Lebanese community.

There has been much speculation that apart from Mr Saklaoui's
video, the commission has also been busy with its own covert
surveillance.

Several other inner-city councils including Burwood are also
understood to be in the commission's sights.